


How to Stay Behind The Doors of Life

by aroseandapen, rychuu



Series: Danganronpa V3 AU: We're a Two-For-One Special [4]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: It's Oumota if you squint, M/M, Other, The fic is also a part of an AU, You don't have to squint real hard though, a rewrite of chapter 5, because canon forgot to address this loophole and of course, but it doesn't have to be, but it's also not, even though I really ship it, it can stand on its own, it's a fix it fic, it's sort of canon divergent, just know that it's not really a ship fic, kind of, so enjoy it as you please, we had to exploit it, who knows it's up to you to decide that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-25 19:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14984426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroseandapen/pseuds/aroseandapen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/rychuu/pseuds/rychuu
Summary: Kokichi starts crying in front of the hydraulic press, and Kaito isn't having any of it. There has to be another way.





	How to Stay Behind The Doors of Life

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Before you read, you may have noticed that this fanfic is a part of my and L's "Two for One Special" AU. That's right, this was technically written for that AU, so if you want to avoid massive spoilers for our re-write of Chapter five, please do not read this fanfic right now! If you don't mind the spoilers, then go on ahead.
> 
> This fic was actually a roleplay me and L did (A lot of this AU is actually roleplay, tidbit!) and yours truly edited it into a fanfic. So we technically wrote it together!
> 
> Another special thing about this particular fanfic is that I specifically wrote it so it COULD be a standalone fanfic too! Meaning that if you're not interested in the Twins AU, don't worry about it! Nothing about this fic makes any direct relation to the AU. I've made sure to keep it easy for everyone to enjoy.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy the show!

He had started crying.

Kokichi had started crying as he stood in front of the hydraulic press, Kaito’s jacket resting on the lower slab. Cold, unforgiving metal that was going to bring about his end.

Without his shirt or jacket, Kokichi’s skin had grown white. Blood, red and thick, stained his skin and trickled down his torso. Kokichi stared at the press, his left hand gripping tightly to his right arm. He was shaking. Shaking and shivering violently, eyes widened and strained. Tears that gathered in his eyes spilled over and slid down his cheeks, soon to drip off of his chin and join the blood at his feet.

Lips trembled as they were pressed into a thin line, and Kokichi only continued to stare. He stared at how the purple jacket lined with the galaxy rested so peacefully on the hard, metal slab. Yet, every time he went to take a step forward towards his doom, he would sway in the opposite direction.

Shaking his head, Kokichi turned around, just enough to face the one he plotted to be his killer.

Kaito was already stood in place for the plan, hands hovering over the camera’s record button and the hydraulic press’ control panel. His own fingers trembled as he also swayed, a strong frown upon his face and his brows furrowed.

Soon, that frown turned into gritted teeth, and Kaito found himself squeezing his eyes and fists closed.

Neither of them were ready for what they were about to do.

Drawing in a sharp, deep breath, Kaito forced his eyes open and rested his fingers on the respective buttons, eyes narrowed and breath uneven. Once his hands touched the smooth metal and plastic, the tremors reached up his arms and to his shoulders, and made his fingers twitch away from the controls.

Glancing up, Kaito’s eyes met Kokichi’s, just before the other flinched and looked away. Kaito’s eyes widened. “Kokichi…?”

Kokichi’s grip on his arm tightened. He blinked, and more tears ran down his cheeks. He was still shaking.

“Kokichi, are you…?” Kaito’s voice trailed off, the answer obvious and thick in the silence. No, of course not. Of course Kokichi wasn’t ‘all right.’ With the poison in his veins and the press in front of him, there were only two choices Kokichi could make for his immediate future, and both paths lead him to death and Kaito responsible for it. Whether that be directly or not.

Kaito’s hands balled into fists again as he all too quickly pushed himself away from the control panel. “You  _ don’t _ have to do this, you know.”

Kokichi bowed his head, and his trembling became worse and worse. “Yes, I do,” he growled. “If I don’t, then… Maki would be executed, remember? And.. The mastermind, they—they must’ve done something…” his voice trailed off before he shook his head. “I’m d-dying anyway, you know? So I have to.”

A couple of soft coughs escaped passed Kokichi’s lips, and his breathing became uneven as he tried to hold them down. “If Monokuma gets it wrong, then the killing game is over. No one likes a cheater. We’ve got to— _ Nng!” _

His lungs weren’t having any of his attempts, and Kokichi doubled over in a coughing fit.

Kaito gave a short shout before he rushed down the stairs and over to Kokichi. Before Kaito could even extend out a hand to help him, however, Kokichi shoved him away.

“Stop.  _ Don’t,” _ Kokichi snarled. When Kaito tried to reach out again, Kokichi pulled away. “Get back up to the control panel, you idiot. Do you want your  _ precious  _ little ‘Maki Roll’ to get killed? To be  _ executed?” _

Suppressing his own urge to cough, Kaito protested; “But—”

“No ‘buts.’ Get the hell back up there or so  _ help _ me, I will take you down to Hell with me.”

Kokichi pushed himself forward, up and towards the hydraulic press. Soon, the machine was just inches in front of him. Close, so close. The end of his life was just inches away.

Yet instead of immediately climbing onto the slab, he wheezed and leaned his arm against it. Then, he leaned his head on his arm. The shaking only got worse.

Kaito, all the while, remained right where he stood, his fists balled so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. Yet even as precious seconds ticked by, Kaito didn’t move.

Kokichi sighed. “… Kaito, just  _ go.” _ Defeated. Kokichi sounded so defeated. “You’re… making this harder than it needs to be.”

“You don’t want to die,” Kaito accused, loud and frustrated. “You’re—you’re shaking. You’re  _ afraid.” _

“Get back to the control panel, Kaito,” Kokichi spat. His muscles tensed, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t stop trembling. “I—I’m just cold, you know. Hypothermia. Poison’s given me hypothermia. Don’t worry about it.”

“That’s bullshit!” The shout made Kokichi wince. “If you don’t want to die, then be a man and say so! Don’t just give up now!”

“Kaito, I’m  _ dying,” _ Kokichi hissed. His eyes squeezed shut and his voice started wavering. “Whether you like it or not, I’m dying. Either to your girlfriend or to end this killing game. So shut the hell up and get your dumb ass back to the control panel!”

“That’s—” Kaito’s voice wavered slightly as well. The righteous anger previously in his voice was gone. Kaito started scratching the back of his head with his left hand. He looked away. “… She’s not my girlfriend.”

A pathetic rebuttal, really. Kokichi rolled his eyes. “Whatever. You want to save her or  _ not?” _

“I—Of course I do! But—”

“ _ Then get the hell back to the panel.” _ Kokichi interjected, not letting Kaito have even a second more to protest. “You’re just wasting time. She’ll end up becoming the blackened if I die before you kill me. You know that, don’t you? Her crime would be exposed  _ so _ easily, too.”

“… I know,” Kaito growled through his teeth. “I know. I know. I just—”

“You just  _ what?” _ Kokichi spat. “Can’t do it? Don’t  _ want _ to do it? Well, life isn’t about getting to do what you want all the time! Do you really think I  _ want _ to die?!”

“No, but that’s—”

“But  _ nothing!” _ A couple of coughs interrupted him, lungs stressed from the yelling. Kaito nearly took a step forward again, arm extended to reach for the other, but he froze when Kokichi started yelling once more. “S-stop being a moron and get back to the panel!”

Kaito fell silent after that, lips formed into a tight frown and muscles tense. There was no arguing with Kokichi like this. He already made up his mind, and Kaito had made his choice when he drank that antidote. Kokichi made his choice when he  _ gave _ Kaito that antidote.

With a quiet growl, Kaito turned around and made his way back over to the control panel, stopping at the foot of the stairs. His hand rested on the guard rail, and he looked up at his destiny. His destiny of becoming the blackened to save Maki from death, and killing Kokichi Ouma with the press of a button. He turned to look back at Kokichi one last time. Kokichi hadn’t moved from his place, still leaning on the press with his arm and wheezing. Blood dripped down from Kokichi’s body and onto the floor. Yet Kaito’s eyes fixated on him, seeing the other’s tears dripping down his cheeks.

“…  _ Damn it…”  _ A soft growl under his breath. A tightened grip on the railing. A button that begged to be pushed. Was there really no other option?

Just as Kaito took a defeated step forward, a sob escaped from Kokichi’s lips. It was quiet and soft, and the sound barely made its way to Kaito’s ears, but it still made its way there.

He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t  _ kill Kokichi. _

“Screw this!” Kaito shouted, moving off of the one stair he had climbed and pushing himself away from the railing. “Screw this, screw the class trials and screw the Mastermind! We can’t just  _ give _ them what they want!”

“Huh?” Kaito’s sudden outburst startled Kokichi, and he finally turned around to face Kaito. Tears were still clinging to his cheeks. “What are you even—”

“We can’t just give up now!” Kaito snapped, bringing his fists together with a satisfying  _ smack _ . “I ain’t gonna let you or Maki die here! We can’t play this killing game anymore!”

Before Kokichi could challenge Kaito’s new stubborn resolve, Kaito forced his body to move quickly towards the bathroom.

“Hey! Where the hell are you going, you idiot?!” Kokichi cried out. “Get back to the panel—Kaito!  _ Kaito!” _

Kaito continued to ignore Kokichi, pressing onward until he was out of sight. Kokichi had made an attempt to chase after him, but nearly stumbled at the first step. He leaned against the press and began to cough again. Breathing was becoming more and more difficult. “K… Kaito…!” Kokichi wheezed. “Don’t—don’t you make me die uselessly, Kaito! Get back here and kill me! Kill me t-to end the killing game!”

His words fell on deaf ears. Panting, Kokichi looked around, and noticed a pink orb and a remote control right next to the stairs. After a moment of contemplation, he made his way over to grab them.

Kaito had made a beeline for it, for the antidote bottle that was both his salvation and his utter doom. He looked into the bottle through the mouth of it, but only frowned. There wasn’t even a drop of the liquid left.

“ _ Shit…” _ he muttered quietly. “Shit, shit, shit.”

Kaito stared at the bottle, biting his lower lip and eyes scanning it frantically. As he did, the exertion from the speed walking caught up to him, and he started coughing. He could taste blood. His illness was getting worse. He was running out of time.

Even as he gagged and blood splattered from his lips, his eyes scanned the bottle. There wasn’t much to look at, aside from the label describing the active ingredients. He scanned them. Again and again, until his eyes went wide.

“Kokichi!” Kaito shouted, nearly tripping over himself as he stood up sharply and bolted back into the hanger. “I got it!”

Before Kaito could even reach Kokichi, however, the sudden sprinting aggravated his lungs, and he started coughing again.

“You goddamn idiot!” Kokichi snarled. Electrobomb and controller in hand, he was already back in front of the hydraulic press. “If you keep running like that, you’re going to end up killing yourself before you kill me! You’ve already wasted enough time, now hurry up and crush me with these. I don’t want the Mastermind getting their hands on them.”

In the middle of his coughing fit, Kaito shook his head. “No way, dude! I’m not going to kill you!”

Kokichi nearly dropped the bomb and controller. “ _ What?” _

“You heard me!” Kaito was finally able to collect himself and stood up straight. He wiped his mouth with his shirt sleeve. “I’m not gonna kill you, and you’re not gonna die! I’m going to save your sorry ass and no one will be executed!”

“… Are you delirious?” Despite how soft Kokichi’s voice had gotten, it still weighed thick with sarcastic and belittling tones. “Did you forget that I’m poisoned, and that you drank the  _ only _ antidote?”

“Well, no,” Kaito started. “I didn’t forget, but—”

“Then  _ shut up _ and get back to the control panel.”

Kokichi’s harsh words silenced him, and Kaito could only stare at him.

“Stop trying to play the hero, Kaito.” Kokichi growled. “I’m  _ dying  _ and there’s nothing that can be done about it… And you—you being a goddamn idiot, trying to find some way to stop the inevitable…” Kokichi’s voice trailed off. He hung his head. “… Don’t make this harder for us than it has to be.”

Silence. One second, then another. The air around them was thick and oppressive. Kaito only stood there, bottle in hand. His grip tightened, and it was a wonder how the bottle stood up to the pressure.

Kaito’s eyes squeezed shut, and he gritted his teeth. His hands started shaking again. “But—”

“Go to the control panel, Kaito.”

Kokichi wasn’t relenting, and his harsh yet defeated tone made it all the more difficult to argue with him. Kokichi had accepted his death, so much so that he wouldn’t even consider an alternative.

“… It’s not like I want this, either,” Kokichi muttered, so softly that Kaito could barely hear him. “But we don’t have a choice, you know? This is it. There’s no other solution. I don’t know what desperate idea you’ve got in your head right now, but forget it and do as I say. Put me out of my misery before the poison kills me first.  _ Please.” _

Kokichi spoke in such a weak, pathetic voice. Kaito opened his mouth, but his words got caught in his throat.

“… Please. Let’s just… get this over with, okay?”

More silence between them. The air around them was so thick that it threatened to suffocate them both.

“Ugh,  _ fine,”  _ Kaito said, body tense. However, his eyes opened and his gaze hardened on Kokichi, mouth pressed into a nervous frown. “I… it’s just—”

“Stop thinking about it,” Kokichi interrupted. He wasn’t even looking at Kaito. “Thinking about it will only make you hesitate again. Just get up there.”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Kaito gave a tense sigh, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. “You’re really dead set on  _ dying, _ huh?”

“When you don’t have a choice, there’s not much you can do.”

The words made Kaito grimace, with how flat and monotone Kokichi stated them. There really wasn’t changing his mind, was there?

After a moment, Kaito swallowed a lump in his throat. “Just… Can you do me a favor real quick, before we… we do this?”

Kokichi glanced up at Kaito, finally, and hesitated to respond. His eyes searched Kaito’s face before he relaxed. “… What? What do you want?”

“… Could you hold this for me, for a second?” As Kaito spoke, he held out the antidote bottle. “I need to do something real fast and I need both my hands for it.”

Kokichi gave a tired glare. “Will this take long?”

“No.”

Upon Kaito’s response, Kokichi relented with another sigh. He reached to grab the bottle. “Fine, but make it fast. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to—”

As soon as Kokichi took the bottle and gathered it into his arms with the electrobomb and remote control, Kaito moved. He was fast, too fast for Kokichi’s dizzy and dazed mind to process until it was too late. Kaito’s arm hooked under his knees, making Kokichi lose balance. Before he fell onto the ground, however, he felt Kaito’s other arm wrap around his back, and then he lifted him up and into his arms.

Before he had realized it, Kaito was carrying him to the exisal Maki had left behind.

“H-hey!” Immediately, Kokichi started struggling. “What gives?! Hey! P-put me down—what are you doing?!”

“I told you, didn’t I!?” Kaito shouted, a hint of determination glowing in his eyes. “I’m not gonna kill you, and you’re not going to die! I’m not going to let the Mastermind have their way with all of us, damn it!”

Kokichi continued to struggle weakly against Kaito’s hold. “You—you tricked me!”

“Yeah, well, what goes around  _ comes _ around.” Kaito’s grip tightened to accommodate Kokichi’s struggling, and he frowned. “Now stop wriggling, Jeez.”

“You’re going to get her killed!” Kokichi cried out. “You’re going to get Maki killed by trying to save me! I’m going to die to the poison, and then she’ll be executed!”

“I don’t know how many times I’ve gotta tell ya,” Kaito huffed. He had finally reached the exisal, but with Kokichi struggling as much as he was, he doubt he could climb up so easily. “You  _ aren’t  _ gonna die and Maki  _ isn’t _ going to get executed! Now, quit your whining before you—”

As if on cue, Kokichi started to wheeze and cough. His struggling came to a screeching halt as his lungs threw him into another painful coughing fit.

“… Hurt yourself.”

Kaito only sighed in the face of Kokichi’s fit, and he was thankful that the exisal cockpit was close enough to the ground where he could get Kokichi inside. With Kokichi in the exisal, Kaito looked around. While Kokichi was small, he was rather large, and the cockpit wasn’t built to house two people.

Either way, Kaito hoisted himself into the exisal, suppressing the urge to cough his lungs out. With a little bit of maneuvering, he was able to seat himself in front of the controls. It was cramped, and the shifting around had part of Kokichi’s body across his lap, but it would have to do.

Kokichi was still coughing, clutching onto the three items in his arms and paying very little attention to anything else. While Kaito frowned at the sight, he shut the cockpit closed before Kokichi could think to do much else. With his hands on the controllers, Kaito started piloting the exisal forward.

Despite his gagging and wheezing, Kokichi managed to blurt out; “Wh-where… where are we going? What—what are you doing?”

“We’re going to Shuichi’s lab,” Kaito said, grip tightening on the controls. “I may not be much of a chemist, but I do know a bit about poisons and some ways to deal with them. If we can find something that has the same ingredients as the ones on the antidote bottle, then it might as well be an antidote for the poison Maki used, right?”

Kokichi fell silent at the answer, only coughing in shorter spurts. His eyes narrowed. “You—you think something like that… you think that it’d be that easy…?”

“No,” Kaito admitted. He shot a quick glance down at Kokichi, eyes flickering briefly to the items in his arms before settling on his face. “But there’s gotta be enough crap in that cabinet where we can mix and match until we have a makeshift antidote!”

“This… this isn’t going to work,” Kokichi panted. “There’s no  _ way _ this is going to work.”

“It’s going to work!” Kaito shouted, making Kokichi flinch. Kaito’s knuckles were turning white from how tightly he gripped onto the controls. “It has to work! It will work, and neither you or Maki will die!”

Only the sound of Kokichi’s wheezing and gasping filled the air as Kaito continued to pilot the exisal. It was no wonder Kaito chose to use the exisal with how quick their progress was.

Kokichi’s grip on the objects in his hands tightened. Then, he started to relax.

“When we g-get there,” he muttered. “When we get there… if you can’t find or make this miracle antidote, or whatever—you have to let me drink a poison that will kill me faster than the Strike-9 is.”

Kaito’s heart skipped a beat. “Wh-what?!”

“You heard me.” Kokichi’s voice was barely a harsh whisper. The poison was already deep in his system, wreaking havoc on his body. “If you can’t find or make whatever you’re betting everything on then… then you better l-let me kill myself. That’s the deal. Otherwise I won’t go along with it.”

“Stop  _ saying _ things like that!” Kaito gritted his teeth. “You’re not going to die, don’t I keep saying that? You can’t give up, you hear me? You gotta keep fighting no matter what, and I’m going to save you, you’ll see!” His fingers twitched, and an urge to make some of his more violent gestures went through his nerves. However, he couldn’t make any sort of movement in such cramped quarters without risking unintentionally hitting Kokichi.

“Don’t pretend that you  _ failing _ isn’t an option,” Kokichi hissed. “And if you do? Well, I’d rather die by my own hands than Maki’s or anyone else’s.”

Kaito clenched his jaw tighter, the queasy feeling in his stomach returning. “You… You think I’m an idiot, don’t you?”

“Huh?” The question made Kokichi’s eyes widen ever so slightly. “I mean,  _ yes, _ but why are you asking that  _ now?” _

“Well, would an  _ idiot _ see right through your bullshit?” The twitching in Kaito’s hands became a tremor, and it started making it’s way up his arms. “’I’d rather die by my own hands’? Bullshit. That’s  _ bullshit.” _

Kokichi’s right eye twitched ever so slightly. “What are you talking about?”

He didn’t answer Kokichi’s question, but the silence said plenty. If Kokichi drank a poison that killed him faster than the Strike-9, then the person who killed Kokichi would be already dead.

Kaito swallowed a hard lump in his throat. “… Fine.  _ Fine, _ but it’s not going to come to that! So just... stop thinking like that and start thinking about living here, got it?!”

That seemed to shut Kokichi up, at the very least. He coughed a few times before Kaito felt him shivering. It didn’t seem like Kokichi was lying about the hypothermia after all.

Kaito forced himself to focus on the goal, forcing the exisal forward and closer to Shuichi’s lab. Through the doors, up the stairs… and all the while, Kokichi was shivering more and more violently with the occasional coughing fit and wheezing.

Kokichi had closed his eyes, expression strained. His breathing was getting harsher. Kokichi’s grip on the items he was holding loosened, and he leaned against Kaito a bit more than he had been before.

“Kaito…” In such a short amount of time, Kokichi’s voice had become so tired and hoarse. “If I… If I die, don’t go and blame yourself, okay?”

Kokichi must have been losing his head if he was genuinely trying to console Kaito. That poison was spreading through his body faster than he anticipated.

“Shut up already.” Kaito hadn’t meant to sound as harsh as he did, but Kokichi’s words made him choke on his own. His vision blurred with tears, and he tried to rapidly blinked them away. “You’re not... going to die, okay? You’re not, and I’m not going to have to blame myself for  _ anything.” _

“Nnn… Sorry…”

Kaito’s tears shook loose, falling down his cheeks, but there was nothing that he could do to stop them from dripping down onto the shirtless boy without taking his hands off the controls. It had been the first time Kaito ever heard Kokichi give an apology that seemed so  _ genuine. _

Another coughing fit hit Kokichi as the exisal jumped up a flight of stairs, jerking them both around. “Ghh…”

“Hang in there,” Kaito murmured. “We’re almost there, hang in there.”

Not even a minute had passed before they were in front of Shuichi’s lab. Kaito grunted and started to move, however the motions he made stirred Kokichi.

“Wait…!” Kokichi breathed, shifting around to grab the electrobomb into his hand. Kaito was about to ask what he was doing before Kokichi used his teeth to pull on the electrobomb’s handle.

“Wh-what are you—?!”

Kaito’s surprise was drowned out in a short burst of white light, making him wince and shield his eyes. “Damn it!  _ Warn _ a guy before you set off a bomb!”

“There,” Kokichi muttered, panting and closing his eyes. He smiled softly. “Now… y-you can do whatever you want. Ehe.”

Kaito opened his mouth to give a snarky reply, but he immediately closed it. He was finally able to take a good look at Kokichi, who looked even more pale than he normally did. He turned his attention to the cockpit’s lock mechanism, and disabled it before pushing the door open.

As soon as the cockpit was open enough, Kaito gathered Kokichi in his arms and jumped out of the exisal. The impact made him grunt and hiss, and a single cough escaped from his lips before he swallowed it down.

Kaito held fast onto Kokichi as he opened the lab door and rushed inside. Making his way to the nearest couch, Kaito quickly but gently set Kokichi down on it, forcing him to sit upright.

“Kokichi, stay with me,” Kaito muttered. It didn’t seem like Kokichi was listening, however, and he saw his body sway and his eyes close. “Hey, Kokichi…!” Kaito shook his shoulder to stir him, and Kokichi’s eyes shot open and his body jolted.

“Huh? What?” Kokichi blinked, bewildered, before he huffed. “I didn’t pass out. I just closed my eyes.”

Kaito rolled his eyes. “Sure, you did… You  _ have  _ to stay awake, got it?”

With the weak way Kokichi nodded, Kaito wasn’t sure if he would be able to stay awake for long even if he tried. Kaito gritted his teeth, so hard that the stress started to hurt his jaw. He turned around, towards the cabinets containing both poisons and antidotes.

Kaito rushed to search the bottles, hands shaking with nerves as he tried to move as quickly as possible, nearly dropping several poisons as he referenced the antidote bottle. One by one, he referenced both antidotes and poisons, snarling each time he found one that was useless to him. Before long, there were several bottles of poison and antidotes on the ground. Each bottle he found that failed to match any of the ingredients only left him more panicked.

“Keep holding on, Kokichi—don’t you fucking dare quit on me now!” Kaito shouted, though there was no reply. He didn’t have time to force one out of Kokichi either. He needed to keep his eyes scanning every and any bottle he grabbed.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he finally found something.

It was an antidote that had two of the five ingredients that matched what was on the Strike-9 antidote label, and Kaito nearly dropped it from how shocked he was. Two ingredients. That was two out of five. He could do this.

Hope drove his search to be more frantic and haphazard and he found two other antidotes that had one ingredient each that matched the label. He was about to laugh from the relief when he came across the final bottle with the missing ingredient, and nearly choked on his own breath.

It was a poison.

Kaito wasted precious seconds observing the little bottle of poison in his hand, and he immediately went to check the warning label. The poison was only harmful in large doses, but it was still a  _ poison. _ Kaito bit his lip, to the point where it hurt, and squeezed his eyes tight. Did he have enough time to look for an antidote? Was it worth the risk? His hands shook. Kaito didn’t even know how much of the poison would be too much.

A coughing fit came from behind him, and Kaito sharply turned around to spot Kokichi, hunched over and grabbing at his chest. In between his coughs, he was wheezing.

“K-Kokichi?!”

Kokichi didn’t answer—he  _ couldn’t _ answer, and he didn’t even look up at Kaito as he gagged.

“Shit, fuck…! Hold on, Kokichi!” Kaito sprinted towards the table directly behind him and practically threw the bottles he had on the counter.

One by one, and using the ingredients list on the Strike-9 antidote bottle as a guide, he put in the liquids little by little, guessing just how much of each was supposed to go into the concoction to make a makeshift antidote. Then finally came the poison, which was the last ingredient on the label.

Kaito’s hands trembled as his widened eyes stared at the mess he had made and the poison. “Ghh, shit, shit, shit…”

He didn’t know how much was necessary. What if he put in too much?

A sudden ‘ _ thud’ _ came from behind him, and he turned his head to see Kokichi had fallen on the floor. He didn’t look like he was moving.

Throwing caution to the wind, Kaito topped off the concoction he made with the poison and quickly shook it to stir it. He then sprinted over to Kokichi, dropping to his knees and rolling Kokichi over onto his back.

“Kokichi, hey! I got something, wake up!” Nudging his shoulder with his free hand a bit too roughly, Kaito managed to stir Kokichi just enough for him to open his eyes a crack.

“Nnng…”

“Kokichi, you need to drink this,  _ now!” _ Kaito took no time to hoist Kokichi into his arm, and pressed the mouth of the bottle to his lips. “Come on, man, drink this! Hurry up!”

The liquid had already started flowing from the bottle and down Kokichi’s throat, which ended up making Kokichi choke on it briefly. Kaito was about to pull the bottle away when he saw Kokichi had started to swallow it. It was slow, and every gulp look like it pained Kokichi further and further.

Kokichi was trembling, skin ice cold and drained of any and all color. He didn’t look like he was going to survive much longer.

“Don’t you dare,” Kaito snarled, tears gathering in his eyes again. His whole body was shaking. “Don’t you dare die on me now, Kokichi. You can’t die here. I won’t  _ let _ you die here!”

Kaito hated how long it took Kokichi to down the whole bottle, but when he finally did, Kaito pulled the bottle away from his lips and tossed it away. Now to wait, and pray that he didn’t just doom both Kokichi and Maki.

Kokichi was struggling more and more to breathe, his body trying to make the motions but not functioning well enough to do so. He was wheezing and trembling so viciously in Kaito’s arms, and yet Kaito could only watch and stare.

“Come on, come on, come on,” Kaito whispered. “Come  _ on…” _

It was taking too long. The antidote Kaito took gave almost immediate relief to the poison. Kokichi’s trembling was getting weaker and weaker now, and his breathing shorter and shorter.

Finally, Kokichi had fallen limp, and he was no longer breathing.

“Kokichi!” Kaito’s heart stopped in his chest. He stopped breathing. Kokichi had stopped breathing. “No, no, no, don’t! Don’t, you can’t! Kokichi, come  _ on!” _

Panicked, the first thing Kaito did was try to shake Kokichi awake, but he was completely gone. His mind went blank, and his own breath quickened.

“Shit, fuck, no! Kokichi…!”

Before he had realized it, Kaito’s body was going through the motions of setting Kokichi flat on his back in front of him. Kaito rested one hand on Kokichi’s head and the other under his chin and tilted his head back. He then hovered his ear over Kokichi’s mouth and nose while keeping his eyes on his chest.

He really wasn’t breathing. The fingers that were under Kokichi’s chin felt a pulse. Kokichi’s heart was still beating, but he wasn’t breathing.

Without hesitation, Kaito pinched Kokichi’s nose closed, took in a quick breath, and pressed his mouth against the other’s. If Kokichi couldn’t breathe on his own, then Kaito decided he was going to do it  _ for _ him. Upon a quick inspection, Kaito noticed Kokichi’s chest rise from the rescue breath, and then fall. That meant his throat hadn’t closed, and maybe he still had a chance.

So he gave Kokichi another breath, and watched his chest rise and fall. Then another one. Then another. All the while, Kaito kept checking Kokichi’s pulse to make sure his heart was still beating. If it had stopped, he would have to start chest compressions, and that would bring about a whole other level of risks.

Kokichi’s pulse was still strong. So he continued to give him only the rescue breaths.

“Kokichi, you can’t die here…!” Kaito growled in between breaths. “Come on, you can’t, you gotta live! Breathe! Breathe, you asshole!  _ Breathe!” _

One after the other, Kaito continued to breathe for Kokichi and kept tabs on his pulse. He swore that Kokichi’s heart rate was slowing.

Before he could even give himself time to think, however, a sharp gasp came from the boy beneath him.

“Kokichi!” Kaito’s stammered out incoherent nonsense as he gathered Kokichi back into his arms. “Holy—holy shit, dude,  _ breathe,  _ breathe—I got you, okay?”

Kaito was only met with desperate gasps for air, harsh breaths that sounded hoarse and dry. With the way his breath sputtered, it was almost like Kokichi forgot how to breathe.

“Okay, okay, breathe—in and out, in six, out seven.”

He didn’t even know where he got those numbers from, but he started to count for Kokichi, to breathe in for six seconds, then exhale for seven. When Kokichi was conscious enough to do so, he started following along, breathing in and out with Kaito’s guidance.

Soon the harshness of Kokichi’s breaths started to fade into something more steady, and Kaito couldn’t stop a huge grin from forming on his face.

“It—it worked!” Kaito laughed, tears shaking loose and rolling down his cheeks. The relief he felt was overwhelming. “It worked!  _ It worked!  _ Hell yeah, it worked!”

Kaito gave an excited fist pump that shook Kokichi, and made him groan and shudder. “Nng…  _ Ow…” _

“Ah, sorry.” Kaito didn’t miss the way Kokichi continued to shiver, however, and quickly started rubbing his arms in an attempt to bring him warmth. “You feeling better?”

“No,” Kokichi groaned. “I feel terrible.”

“Well, at least you’re alive.”

Even with Kaito rubbing his arms, Kokichi was still shivering violently, teeth clattering when he wasn’t panting or talking. He had been hesitant, but he curled up and nestled himself closer to Kaito’s body, trying to leech off of the heat. Kaito simply wrapped his arms around him.

It was awkward, but Kokichi eventually relented with a sigh and cuddled even closer, and Kaito silently accepted it. They said nothing, both relishing in the silence and calm after the storm they just barely survived.

A few minutes had passed. Kokichi was still shivering, but being engulfed in Kaito’s body heat felt nice on his bare skin. “… You really did it,” he whispered.

“Huh?”

“You really…  _ did _ it,” Kokichi repeated, head hung low and as out of sight as he could manage, but Kaito could still see the tears glittering from under the shadow of his bangs. “You really saved me.”

Kokichi curled in on himself a bit more, trembling. “…  _ Why?” _

The question make Kaito look away, finishing himself shaky and gritting his teeth ever so slightly. “You’re infuriating,” he admitted. “You’re always just getting under my skin and...  _ ugh.” _

When Kaito looked back to Kokichi, he found the boy staring up at him, brows furrowed and tired eyes narrowed. Kaito couldn’t stop himself from looking away from such an intimidating glare and staring at the space in front of them.

“But I guess you really aren’t that bad a guy... and I told ya didn’t I? I wasn’t going to let you die! A man doesn’t go back on his word like that!” Kaito gritted his teeth again. “And I don’t know why Maki did that, but... if it really was the Mastermind who did something, then we can’t just let them do whatever they want with us! I say screw that! They can’t just play with people’s lives like that!”

Kokichi’s glare warped into one of disbelief. "... You'd go so far to keep a promise?” His voice softened. “Even… for someone you hate? Even for someone like  _ me?” _

“Uh, yeah…?” Kaito shifted his weight where he sat, mouth pressed into a thin line. “… Like I said, you’re not… as bad as I thought you were. An asshole, sure, but…”

Kaito’s voice trailed off, and he gave a defeated sigh. “The way you were willing to give me the antidote, and sacrifice yourself like that… Man, I can’t just  _ ignore _ something like that and call you evil. You even… you were even about to kill yourself just so Maki wouldn’t be executed, and you  _ hate _ her.”

The mention of Maki and Kokichi’s previous demand made Kokichi flinch in his arms.

“And don’t think I didn’t notice that you had the exisal remote,” Kaito huffed, pointing at it. He felt Kokichi flinch again. “You could’ve used that thing to stop me at any point and you didn’t. I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours, but there’s no way the Kokichi I know wouldn’t have noticed or thought about it. But you chose not to use it. That’s gotta mean something, right?”

Kokichi kept quiet, shaking just a little more violently than he had before. Kaito went to look at him, and Kokichi immediately did his best to hide his face.

“… Look, I ain’t gonna pretend I suddenly have everything about you figured out,” Kaito muttered, moving one of his arms to scratch the back of his head. “But, there’s no way you can be a bad guy with all of that.”

He hadn’t noticed it before, but Kokichi had started gripping onto his shirt, hand shaking and fingers pulling on the fabric so tight that Kaito swore it would rip.

“… Kokichi?” Concern laced his voice as he tried to get a better view of Kokichi’s face. “Are you okay?”

“I’m  _ fine,” _ Kokichi spat, a little too quickly. Kaito noticed the tears again, threatening to fall down Kokichi’s face as he struggled to keep them at bay. “I’m fine. I’m—”

Kokichi interrupted himself with a wheeze and a hiccup, and his whole body tensed. “No,” He whispered, just barely loud enough for Kaito to even hear. “No, shit, no—”

Suddenly, Kaito rested his hand back on Kokichi’s arm, distracting him and making him squeak in surprise. “Hey man, it’s okay. You’ve been through a  _ lot _ , you know? You don’t need to hide it. It’s not like I’d tell the others, either, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I’m not hiding  _ anything,” _ Kokichi hissed. “What would I even—”

“Dude, you just almost  _ died,” _ Kaito said, flatly. “If you think you’re gonna convince me you’re fine, then maybe  _ you’re _ the idiot around here.”

When Kokichi fell silent and clenched his teeth, Kaito sighed. “… Besides, you’re human too, you know? Everyone cries.”

Something about those final words made Kokichi wheeze and hiccup again. Then again, and then a sob. Soon, his shoulders started shaking and he sobbed deeply. Kaito didn’t say anything, and continued to hold Kokichi where they sat. Kaito closed his eyes, and let him cry.

Kokichi was about as curled in on himself as he could manage, keeping his face hidden from Kaito’s view. Yet his fingers clung to Kaito’s shirt, and he continued to sob quietly. Whenever he tried to speak, he would blubber out incoherent syllables and words. There were very few things that were even coherent at all. Kaito could only make out some of what Kokichi was trying to say.

He heard names. Two names stuck out in particular. Two names Kokichi couldn’t even finish saying before he became incoherent again. Two names that belonged to two people that were no longer in this world.

Kaito said nothing still, and let Kokichi vent out all of whatever feelings he had been bottling up the whole killing game. There were times Kokichi started to grow quiet, but would start crying all over again. He had a lot to vent, like a dam that had finally burst, and Kaito wasn’t about to stop it.

Eventually Kokichi grew quiet again, trembling and hiccuping every so often but making little attempt to speak or even keep his eyes open. Kaito gave Kokichi a minute or two, in case he was going to start back up again, before he asked; “… Feel better?”

“Nnn…” Was Kokichi’s only verbal response. He at least gave a weak shrug, unsure.

“Well, you look tired as hell, dude.” Kaito started shifting, ready to stand up. “You want help getting back to your room, or whatever hideout you’ve got? I can’t blame ya if you don’t feel safe going back to your room, so…”

Kaito moving away made Kokichi shiver, whining at the sudden absence of heat. Kaito noticed this, and frowned. “… Maybe I should stay with you for the night, make sure you don’t die of hypothermia or something.”

As Kaito stood, Kokichi slowly followed suit, wobbling on his feet. “No, we can’t—we can’t do that. Our plan, the killing game…”

“Dude, I swear to god,” Kaito snapped, tone urgent yet flat. “If you’re telling me that I just saved your sorry ass only for you to insist you get crushed in the press, I’m  _ going  _ to punch you.”

“But if we don’t  _ do _ something, then the killing game is just going to continue!” Kokichi growled. “We—we can’t just continue like this,  _ I _ can’t continue like this, we need to stop this goddamn killing game!”

“Yeah, well—I’m not going to  _ crush _ you! I just  _ saved _ you!”

Kokichi rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean you’d crush  _ me, _ you idi—” Kokichi stopped himself, blinked, and sighed. A dust of color returned to his cheeks as he grumbled; “… You stubborn  _ ass.” _

Kaito crossed his arms, glaring at Kokichi and frowning. “And how do you expect us to stop the killing game now? Your original plan was to make an unsolvable murder Monokuma couldn’t even solve, right? Well there can’t be a  _ murder _ without a  _ body.  _ And I’m not letting you—”

“… A body,” Kokichi echoed, interrupting Kaito. His brows furrowed and he glanced to the floor, muttering to himself. “A body… a body…”

“Uh, yeah. A  _ body. _ You know, a dead human being?” Kaito’s frown deepened. “Just let it go, man. We’ll stop the killing game another way.”

“Shut up for a second,” Kokichi hissed. “I’m trying to think.”

“Ugh, dude,  _ give it up. _ Unless you can magically pull a dead body out of your ass, it ain’t happening.”

Kokichi grimaced. “ _ Ew. _ Nice imagery. You must be into some weird kinky shit.”

“ _ Why _ did I save you?” Kaito huffed. “At least you’re  _ clearly _ feeling better. Jeez.”

Kokichi started to ignore Kaito completely, looking around the room. When his eyes fell onto the cabinets, his eyes widened and brightened ever so slightly.

A soft grin tugged at his lips. “Well, I can’t pull a dead body out of my ass, but maybe I can  _ make  _ one.”

“… What?”

Without another word to explain himself, Kokichi stumbled over to the cabinet and grabbed a random bottle. Then, with all the force he could have possibly mustered, he slammed the bottle on the ground behind him.

Kaito could only stare in a silent awe as Kokichi moved, slamming more and more bottles down onto the ground with enough force to shatter even some of the ones with thicker glass. Poisons, antidotes, it didn’t matter apparently—any glass bottle was prone to being grabbed and shattered on the floor beneath him.

“Whoa! Hey! What the heck are you doing?!” Kaito finally called out. “You’re making a mess!”

Kokichi’s grin grew as he grabbed one of the larger bottles. “Exactly.”

Kaito’s mouth opened, but no words came out as he saw Kokichi change gears, opening the bottle and tipping out the liquid inside. Then, he tore off the label and threw it onto the ground with the broken glass. He grabbed another large bottle and repeated the process. Over and over, until he had so many bottles in his arms that he could barely carry them all.

“Shit, this won’t be enough…” Kokichi muttered to himself, before turning to Kaito. “Hey! Hold these for me, we’re going to need a lot of them.”

“What… what are you planning?” Kaito’s eyes glanced over Kokichi’s face, brows furrowed, before he obediently took the empty bottles into his hands. “How many of these do you even  _ need?” _

“A lot.” Kokichi immediately started the process again, grabbing the biggest bottles he could find. “Say, Kaito? How much blood is in a human body?”

“Uh…” Kaito was dumbfounded for a moment before shaking his head. “I dunno, it depends on the person I guess? I think five liters?”

“Hmm…” Kokichi’s lips parted and formed words, but he wasn’t speaking. His brows creased together. “… So I think about twenty bottles then. Maybe twenty five. Just to be on the safe side.”

“Twenty five?!” Kaito echoed. “Why do you want so many bottles?!”

“To  _ make a body _ , duh.” Kokichi spoke with his usual condescending tone, but he was too focused on his task to force out a matching expression. “Jeez, Kaito, get with the program already. I already said I was gonna make one.”

“’Get with the program’?! How about you start  _ explaining _ yourself, for once!” Kaito huffed. “Explain or I’m not carrying these for you.”

“Waaah! Kaito’s so meaaan!” Kokichi cried out, but after a moment of silence he relented. “Fine, fine… but only ‘cause… we don’t have a lot of time.”

On the last bottle he grabbed, he kept his eyes focused on it rather than on Kaito, staring at the label. “These larger bottles hold about two hundred and fifty two milliliters of liquid, right? And five liters is five thousand milliliters.” He finally turned to Kaito, expression stern and flat. “If we can get back to the hanger in time, we should have a window of time that’ll let us check out that paint machine next to the hydraulic press.”

Kaito raised a brow. “Paint machine…?”

“Yeah, you know. The one that painted the exisals or whatever.” Kokichi muttered, turning back to the bottle in his hand. “If we can access the components of that machine, we should be able to get at the paint. It  _ has _ to have the colors we saw the exisals have, right? Which means there  _ has _ to be red.”

As Kokichi spoke, Kaito’s expression shifted from an annoyed glare to one of astonishment.

“If we can, we’ll be able to get paint and made the color of blood and cut the paint with water to make it the right consistency. We fill up these bottles with the fake blood, wrap them up in my shirt under the press, and we proceed with our plans from before.” Kokichi started dumping the liquid from the final bottle as he explained, and then finally, he tore off the label. “Viola. Fake crime scene.”

Kaito was left dumbfounded by the elaborate plan Kokichi had given. “But… but what about the smell? You know, paint thinner? Or even, blood, blood smells different than paint—”

“It doesn’t matter,” Kokichi clarified. “Monokuma is a machine, right? So he can’t immediately tell that something doesn’t smell like it’s supposed to. Aside from that, if the Mastermind really is among us, then that would mean that they’d need to actually be at the crime scene to smell it, and by that point, Monokuma would have likely already started the investigation.” Kokichi gave a short laugh. “Besides, blood smells metallic. And whaaat exactly are there lots of in the hanger?”

Kaito blinked, not expecting Kokichi to actually be demanding an answer out of him. “… Metal. And blood stains, if we want to be technical.”

“See? It all fits so nicely!” Kokichi chirped, spinning around and making his way towards the exisal outside of the lab. “It’s like our destiny! So come on, Kaito, we need to get back already. We need enough time to get everything set up and hide, you know!”

“Wait!” Kaito stammered, running behind him. “What about the noise the glass will make when it breaks? And why did you break all of those other bottles first?”

“’Cause of Shuichi, duh!” Kokichi cried out, quite a bit more energetic than he should have. “Shuichi’s  _ smart _ . I don’t want him figuring out that all of these bottles are missing! So I figured, he might be fooled if he thought that they were broken on the ground.”

“That’s why you tore off the labels…” Kaito mumbled.

“So, when Monokuma gets the wrong culprit, the game won’t be able to function anymore!” He finished, before turning to Kaito one last time. “As for the noise, well… the press is pretty noisy. It’ll drown out the sound of shattering glass. Hey, here’s another idea—gimme your long sleeve shirt. It’ll make carrying these in the exisal a whole lot easier.”

Kaito wordlessly did as he was told, resting the bottles in his arms gently on the ground before taking off his button-up shirt. He laid it down on the ground, and started placing the bottles inside. Kokichi joined him, trying to be just as careful as Kaito was being but still far more clumsy than he’d care to admit.

Kaito stared at their handiwork, eyes wide. “Holy shit, dude… No wonder why the Mastermind wants to get rid of you.”

“Huh?” Kokichi had started to tie the shirt up into a makeshift bag when Kaito had spoken, and his words genuinely caught him off guard. “What do you mean?”

“Dude, there was no way you had this all planned out in your head from the beginning.” Kaito rested his hand on the back of his head. “You… Jeez dude, you’re really damn smart, and  _ quick, _ too. You could probably plan my demise in like, fifty different ways before I could even think to punch you once.”

Kaito turned away, eyes averted, and lowered his voice. “… I’m sorry, for ever doubting you.”

When Kaito finally turned to face Kokichi again, he was met with wide, purple eyes and lips that were pursed into a flat line. When he went to open his mouth, however, Kokichi laughed and waved his hand.

He didn’t say anything, but Kokichi didn’t need to. A soft smile made its way onto Kaito’s face. Maybe he didn’t know even a  _ sliver _ of what was going on in that crazy mind, but he found himself with the small hope that he’d, eventually, figure it out. One day.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So a bit about this fic now that you're at the end!
> 
> I asked a friend who is working in the field of medicine for advise on how to handle the CPR scene and her opinion of the makeshift antidote idea. She suggested that I make the concoction mostly made up of antidotes and the one poison only be lethal in large doses, and told me a bit about CPR that I took to heart.
> 
> Like for example, Kokichi here only stopped breathing, his heart was still beating. While sometimes it's better to give chest compressions anyway, there were some decent IC reasons Kaito was avoiding the chest compressions. A big reason would be if Kokichi threw up from the compressions, he would be throwing up the only thing that could save him, and he would die. I also wanted to avoid it because doing chest compressions involves breaking ones sternum, and Kokichi's been through enough as it is, let the boy keep his sternum in tact. CPR is fuggin terrifying guys.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this fic! It was interesting to write for Kaito for the first time, but the beta readers I had said I did extremely well with his character. I was referencing the roleplay I mentioned before, true, but I had to actually rewrite a lot of dialogue and I got the stamp of approval. Woo!
> 
> Gosh, this is such a long drabble. Over 8k words. Definitely more than Liar, Liar, haha.


End file.
